Part urban futuring festival, part prototyping and placemaking festival, LobbyFest aimed to engage a wide array of citizens in envisioning and shaping the future of Calgary’s urban core.

For three days in September 2023, LobbyFest engaged 60,000 Calgarians, 30 community partners and hosted 19 labs, 8 installations, and activated 4 lobbies in an experimental immersive community engagement initiative.

We asked, “What is the future of YOUR downtown?” while engaging the public in hands-on futures design labs, pop-up experiences, talks, and fun installations including crowdsourcing predictions and desires about downtown that filled 5,000 biodegradable balloons (or, thought bubbles) in one downtown lobby.

The result was The Guide to the Near Future of Downtown, a playbook reference guide for what’s next which will provide the foundation for upcoming urban activator programs targeting four key themes the emerged from LobbyFest.